Material Is Embargoed — 2002-05-31

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported revised productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all persons--for the first quarter of 2002. The revised seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the first quarter were: 8.3 percent in the business sector and 8.4 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, the first-quarter productivity gains were slightly lower than those reported initially on May 7. 9.4 percent in manufacturing, 13.3 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 4.6 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. Manufacturing productivity rose as first-quarter output increased while hours of all persons working in the sector declined for the seventh consecutive quarter. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 16 percent of U.S. business-sector employment, tend to vary more from quarter to quarter than data for the more aggregate business and nonfarm business sectors. First-quarter measures are summarized in table A and appear in detail in tables 1 through 5.